Mrs. Joan Elaine Beasley

Joan Elaine Beasley, 80, of Millbrook, Alabama, passed away on Tuesday, April 4, 2023, after a 2 1/2-year battle with ovarian cancer. A Celebration of Life service will be held at 2:00pm on Sunday, April 30, 2023, in the meeting hall of First United Methodist Church, with Dr. Jay D. Cooper officiating. A reception will be held immediately following the service. Joan was born on January 16, 1943, to Helen Lora Bodiford and William Diamond Williams in Montgomery, Alabama. She spent most of her childhood in Mobile, Alabama. After Joan graduated from Murphy High School in 1960, she did attend college but went on to focus on being a wife and mother. She married Charles Edward Curtis of Chattanooga, Tennessee and they had two children in Memphis, Bryan Paul Curtis in 1967 and Troy Steven Curtis in 1968. She lived in Kirksville, Missouri for a time while Charles attended medical school. She later divorced and moved with her children to live with her mother in Birmingham, Alabama. She later remarried to Thomas Gwin. In 1978 she moved with Mr. Gwin and her children to Saint Simons Island, Georgia. Joan loved the island atmosphere and coastal surroundings. She worked as the secretary to the president of the Cloister and Sea Island club. After her children went to live with their father Charles in Palm Beach, Florida – Joan married George Brown of Equality, Alabama. She loved having a general store and nurseries with a farm, catfish pond and acres of blueberries. She was well known to be a “green thumb" to her friends and family. Joan eventually moved on from George and later remarried to Johnny Beasley of Millbrook, Alabama. As her nursery business didn’t pay all of the bills – Joan took on a contract with the US Postal Service and worked rural mail carrier routes for many years. She even got Johnny to work sometimes with her. Joan was an active member of First United Methodist Church of Montgomery, Alabama and served on the board. She played the piano as a child, and throughout her life, volunteered to play the piano/organ at various churches that she attended. She continued her love of music at home – always owning a piano wherever she lived. Joan was predeceased by her late husband, Johnny Beasley, and her brother Mike Williams of Sarasota, Florida. She is survived by Bryan Curtis (son) of Orlando, Florida; Troy Steven Curtis (son) and Nicole Swain Curtis (daughter-in-law) of Kernersville, North Carolina; Valerie Williams Miklavic (niece), her husband Eric and children Shealyn, Riley and Jaxon of Bradenton, Florida; Ira William (Billy) Brounstein (boyfriend) of Montgomery, Alabama. Joan wished to be cremated and her ashes placed in part next to her late husband, Johnny Beasley, at Brookside Funeral Home and Memory Gardens in Millbrook, Alabama. Services will be held for central Alabama friends and family at First United Methodist Church in Montgomery, Alabama and will be announced when a date is set. A second service will be held at Brookside when her head stone and plaque become available, and her ashes can be placed. Date to be announced. Joan’s remaining ashes will be spread in Key West/Bahia Honda State Park in Florida. Her younger brother loved the Florida Keys and kept trying to entice her to come down. She talked about it for many, many years, but never got around to going. It is Joan’s family’s wish that she spends the rest of her eternity in God’s beautiful garden that is the Florida Keys and with her late brother - she can rest in paradise. Until we meet again… In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to causes dear to Joan: Alabama Public Television: https://aptv.org/donation/ First United Methodist Church of Montgomery, Alabama (Respite program) https://fumcmontgomery.org Alabama Public Radio: https://support.apr.org